Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Towards the end of my Portland reality, I played pretty regularly with Jacob Hall, Matthew Freid and Jeffery Helwig. We had a nifty little combo called Sistemazione.

We had a semi regular thing at a happy and fun little club in Portland Oregon called The Dunes on the inviting and friendly MLK drive. Combine that with zero publicity (not bragging or complaining) and a Monday night and you get a regular, dedicated, guaranteed audience of usually between zero and one.

I liked that aspect of it...the dystopic setting combined with Portland's well disguised yet undeniable apathy toward and disinterest in a realisation of This Music without the central presence of clogs or vaudeville. I really could do what ever I wanted on that saxophone because absolutely no one cared. It was very liberating. I felt comfortable there. Maybe abuse is addictive, but in a way it was ideal.

This track was from the "record" which was stillborn, but still fun to make just the same. It was recorded at Audible Alchemy where Built to Spill eventually took up a multi year residence of extreme thoroughness. It's my favorite building on Mississippi Avenue there in hip, happening North Portland. Full of memories too--like the time I brought a toilet plunger there at 1am during a Wolf Parade recording session. Issac Brock thanked me personally: "That's what I call doing someone a nice" is what he said. When you need a plunger, you need a plunger I guess. The plumbing was brand new. Must have been quite the recording session.

More music to come from the Neve console and Studer deck at Audible Alchemy soon. Stay tuned for the next edition of Many Installments of Me!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Of the many, many lingering regrets from my time at Bennington College, one of the big ones is not taking advantage of the computer music offerings.

Joel Chadabe headed up the department. I remember for some reason, in some class, he came and gave a lecture. Maybe he just gave a lecture...I can't remember. I do remember within moments of him opening his mouth having one of those d'oh! moments of bad, wherein I realised I should have been studying with him (as well) all along.

This one was made with a $1.00 (one dollar) MIDI keyboard, plugged into the computer via a high-latency cable, which may have come with the keyboard. At the time of this track's creation, my computer had a Yahama XG midi card.

The way this one was most likely made was by turning the recording tempo up as high as it could go. 999bpm maybe? Then, I pressed all the keys and all the buttons as fast and as frantically as I could. From there, it was slowed down to 20bpm. Thanks to the magic of MIDI, all the pitches stay the same. Love that! I made it, but I didn't make it. Love that even more!

Soap and Water Country Boy features the sadly defunct and sorely missed Leonard Skrowaczewski Zappa trio with the addition of Wyatt Doyle on vocals. The track was recorded at KEXP in Seattle for a show called Sonarchy hosted by Doug Haire.

The recording was a lot of fun. Doug Haire was a joy to work with. A fast set up and a great sound within minutes. No excruciating microphone gymnastics or endless knob twiddlery.

Much of Wyatt's content is only meaningful to a handfull of people--lines like "That was the Little Man...the Little Man" resonate more fully with some than with others. The rest of are accessible to all: "Well, not the Jesus Christ, but a Jesus Christ."

The show was supposed to be for live broadcast. It was not. It was eventually broadcast, but according to those listening, as soon as the words started, the live transmission ended. HA! I think they went to a baseball game maybe?

Monday, November 1, 2010

It was Drowning Witch or Goblin Girl. I wanted something with a sola, so Drowning Witch it is.

Don't get me wrong, I love me some Chad Wackerman as much as the next guy, but it is an enduring sorrow that FZ never played with anyone like Laurence Cook or Paul Lovens or Sunny Murray, or someone who could really go out. I can listen to that era of FZ's soloing for hours and hours and hours and still feel like, I dunno...like there was still more yet to be said/played/done. (Oddly, I don't feel that way the electronic music or the symphonic material.)

I WATCHED THEM EAT ME ALIVE

The Men's Adventure Library's I Watched Them Eat Me Alive collects pulse-pounding pulp fiction and outrageous illustration art of man vs. beast in vivid full color! Edited by Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle, it's available as a 106-page softcover for just $9.95, and in a deluxe, expanded 126-page hardcover edition for $24.95. The expanded hardcover includes work by pantheon men’s adventure artist Samson Pollen and a long-lost tale of bloodthirsty crustaceans by SFWA Grand Master Robert Silverberg! Get it here.

THE LAST COLORING BOOK

MAP OF THE MOON EP

Map of the Moon delivers a volatile mix of zero-gravity noise pop and moon rock. Blissed, hazy shoegaze transmissions from space, synth rock and direct hi-energy indie pop, with uptempo rock and roll coming through on re-entry. Get the EP here.

BARBARIANS ON BIKES

Barbarians on Bikes is a different kind of release from The Men's Adventure Library. Oversized and all artwork, this one-of-a-kind visual archive rounds up three decades of vintage pulp magazine art featuring rowdy motorcycle action and outlaw biker gangs, most unseen since their original publication. With history and context by editors Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle, plus an afterword by crime novelist Paul Bishop. The deluxe hardcover edition includes an additional 20 pages of biker pulp art. Barbarians on Bikes is big, bad, and untamed. Can you handle the ride?Buy it here.

SIXTY, GODDAMMIT

Josh Alan’s first album in 15 years. Can you dig it? Atomic acoustic blues-funk-rock. Sixty, Goddammit? Ya damn right.

A HANDFUL OF HELL

New from the Men's Adventure Library, editors Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle present A Handful of Hell by Robert F. Dorr.

Aviator, diplomat, and historian, Dorr was uniquely qualified to write for men’s adventure magazines, bringing sweat-and-blood, nuts-and-bolts authenticity to his stories of risk, combat, and sacrifice. Best known today for his highly regarded historical works, Dorr’s stories for the men’s pulps also drew from jaw-dropping true accounts, as action-packed as any imagined by his hard-boiled peers.

DOLLAR HALLOWEEN

Photographs by Wyatt Doyle, author of Stop Requested.

Every year, faces of death crowd the aisles of dollar stores: Skeletons, ghouls, and rubber body parts, all manufactured cheaply overseas and designed and destined for the homes of the working poor of Los Angeles and elsewhere. The result of several years' work for photographer Doyle, Dollar Halloween is a catalog of the annual exhibition.

I'VE GOT HEAVEN ON MY MIND

You don't have to have faith to love Reverend Raymond Branch! I've Got Heaven on My Mind features twelve contemplative, inspirational recordings, including a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Jesus," composed by Lou Reed for the band's eponymous 1967 LP.

I've Got Heaven on My Mind is recorded and mixed by Todd Burke, and is produced by Wyatt Doyle and Mike McGonigal. All sales go directly to Rev. Branch's service efforts in the community.

TEACHER TALES

For 40 years, Mr. Kessler has taught English in the Philadelphia school system the way he knows best: Keeping his head down, not making waves, and counting down the minutes before he's home enjoying a few generously poured martinis. But a series of new acquaintances and bad decisions in his final year before retirement brings his world crashing down around him--tragically and hilariously.

Teacher Tales, the savagely funny debut from novelist Richard Adelman, is available now. Buy it here.

CRYPTOZOOLOGY ANTHOLOGY

From the Men's Adventure Library, CRYPTOZOOLOGY ANTHOLOGY tears into 13 long-lost tales of fist-to-claw encounters with Bigfoot, sea monsters, the Yeti, and cryptids both notorious and obscure. With contributions from luminaries like Sir Arthur C. Clarke and John Keel, plus full-color reproductions of pulp artwork that accompanied the stories' original publication in classic men's adventure magazines.

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